Separated was created during the COVID-19 lockdown, a time when I personally felt the overwhelming sense of separation. I couldn't see my loved ones, my friends, or family, and it was a deeply isolating experience. This painting reflects those feelings of longing and separation, symbolized by the two figures—one male on the right, one female on the left—reaching out to each other, but kept apart by an invisible, molecular barrier. The pandemic created boundaries between us all, and this work is a way for me to express the emotional distance we all endured. I hope that, as viewers look at this piece, they can relate to that shared feeling of separation that affected us all.
